Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic control suspension apparatus and a damping force controlling method thereof, and more particularly, to an electronic control suspension apparatus and a damping force controlling method thereof, which are capable of controlling a damping force of a damper according to a driver's tendency through a driver tendency analysis without a driver's manipulation of a mode selection switch.
Description of the Related Art
Generally, an electronic control suspension apparatus is a shock absorption apparatus including a shock absorber or a spring between a vehicle shaft and a vehicle frame. The electronic control suspension apparatus functions to alleviate a vertical vibration of a vehicle and alleviate a shock and a vibration applied from a road surface to thereby prevent the shock and the vibration from being transferred to a vehicle body.
The electronic control suspension apparatus may be set to a specific mode by a driver, and a damping force range is differently set according to the set specific mode. For example, when a driver selects a specific mode, e.g., an auto mode, a damping force is provided within a damping force range prestored corresponding to the selected auto mode.
In addition, an electronic control suspension apparatus for improving driving stability and ride comfort is disclosed in Korean Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-1998-017112 and the like.
Existing electronic control suspension apparatuses, which are disclosed in Korean Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-1998-017112 and the like, have limitations in that it is necessary for a driver to select a driver mode, e.g., an auto mode or a sport mode, so as to control a damping force of a vehicle, and a damping force according to an existing mode selection providing a prestored damping force range may not meet an individual driver's tendency.
Furthermore, since the existing electronic control suspension apparatuses need to include a mode selection switch for selecting the above-described driver mode, an installation space for the mode selection switch is required in a vehicle, resulting in a rise in unit cost of the vehicle.